April 23, 2017

Throne-room

To worship the Lord Jesus is to be found in a crowd, not lost in one.
We belong here with the angels, seraphim, and winged creatures with multiple eyes and faces.

• Without our voices the choir is incomplete.
• Our hearts beat in time with the multiplied meters of eternity as if they themselves were eternal—for they are!
• Formed in His likeness, we gather with other hot-hearted worshipers of earth and sky and the heavens beyond, to make the music of worship.
• The doorposts shake in sympathetic vibration, matching pitch with the multitudes.
• The flaming of so many ignited hearts fills the Throne Room of Almighty God with smoke.
• No conflagration, this, no fire of destruction, it is an eternal flame rising from creation to mingle with the flaming Shekinah of the Creator, bathing the Throne Room in living light.

The Majesty of the One
Even with the roar of worship and the sensual overload of lightnings and thunders and instruments and voices, we hardly notice each other. All we can see is the majesty of the One-Who-sits-on-the-Throne. All our hearts can hear is the wonder of His voice singing over us. His song is a song of love and covenant and peace, of victory and the end of conflict—a brilliant counterpoint to the song of the angels and the church.

We who think of ourselves as earthbound, need to see beyond our sanctuaries to the Throne Room of God, for where we worship Him, He is enthroned there. We must sense the presence of the church but stretch beyond our five senses to return the Divine Embrace of Jesus, for when we worship Him, He is with us, close enough to touch. We must enter the circle of the One-in-Three and let the mutual love of Father/Son/Spirit whirl around and through us for this is the source of worship.

On the Lord’s Day, let us reach out and touch the Lord, for He is passing by. There is a touch that only He can give, a word that only He can speak, and a name, our name, that only He can whisper as we pray.

How wonderful to be found in a crowd.

Scriptures:
Revelation 7:9-17 NIV
After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes — who are they, and where did they come from?” I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, “they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Isaiah 6:1-7 NIV
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
Hebrews 12:22 NIV
But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, Lord and King, King of kings, Lord of lords, Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, who can cease to give You Praise? Who can dare to be silent before such glory? Yet silent we must be when You speak. Somehow words from Your Throne room echo in our hearts. We want to run the aisles of glory but we dare not, for it is in our stillness that we know that You are God. With bursting hearts we bow before Your Majesty. Awash in Your glory, we are healed. Thank You, Lord! Amen.

Song:
Majesty
Words and Music: Jack Hayford

Majesty! Worship His majesty!
Unto Jesus, be all glory, honor and praise.
Majesty! Kingdom authority,
Flows from His throne, unto His own, His anthem raise.

So exalt, lift up on high the Name of Jesus.
Magnify, come glorify Christ Jesus the King.
Majesty, worship His majesty!
Jesus who died, now glorified, King of all kings!

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

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